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FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

First off, a big thanks to Super Bladesman, who created the xml file that we will be using to play FM10 the extended edition, you can download the file and say thanks to SB here

Also, thank you to Dafuge who first of all came up with the whole 'small club to big club' theme on here but also for allowing me to use the OP in dafuges challenge as a template for this challenge.

Anyway, onto the thread. With the introduction of a competitions editor to Football Manager 2010 it has become possible to add lower leagues onto the current structure of playable leagues, adding a whole new dimension to the small club to big club challenges, as now it is possible to go as far down as level 10 of the English League structure, meaning the classic 'dafuges challenge' is now even tougher.

The Aim

To take a small club who were previously unplayable in the game from any level below the Blue Square North/South to Premier League and Champions League glory.

The RulesRemember to download Super Bladesmans xml file with the link above, Here's where it needs to go:

Load a game with the English leagues only, with your chosen selected, a large database (or smaller if preferred), the attribute masking, real players and transfer boxes ticked and the add key staff box ticked as well

In addition this year, for those of you who want to add to the database to make things more competitive at the top level in the long term, you can set the database level to custom to add the players for the top clubs in each continent. It should look like this. This is purely optional, but no extra players can be loaded on top of this, this is the limit.

The extra levels of detail that you can change while in the game are up to you, as they shouldn't make a difference.

Add yourself as a new manager, the options are up to you but 'past experience' must be set to the lowest possible which is 'Sunday league footballer'. I understand that choosing different nationalities may have an effect later on, but I trust people will be sensible with this. I would expect people to use their own true nationalities.

Take over your chosen club from your chosen league (remember: Below BSS/N) and begin your journey to Premier League glory!

You may not move clubs unless you are sacked. If you get sacked, you can either take over another club that satisfies the original criteria, or just start again.

Any form of international management is not allowed, until you have completed the challenge.

Assigning parent clubs and loaning players is completely up to the player, although it should be noted that on occasions a parent club can lend players which will make the first season or two slightly less of a challenge. It is completely up to you how you play this one, but everyone knows real men don't use parent club loans. Personally, I like to assign a parent club for financial benefits but never take any players on loan from them.

To sign a player, you must be able to scout them, this doesn't mean you have to, just he must be accessible to your scouts. If you have a foreign player on a free transfer who is willing to come on trial, you do not need to be able to scout them, as long as you have them at the club on trial so you can get a coach report on him.

No external utilities such as scouting programs should be used and the database should be unedited with the obvious exception of Super Bladesmans Level 10 update and displaced_seagulls Sussex leagues pack when it is released, if an update is released that is of a good quality and allows you to go to below level 10 I will allow it to be used once I've checked it. Should SI release a data update, this would be allowed but any other data updates are not. It is advised that people should update using the latest patches as they are released, we have waited for 10.1 before starting so I would expect to see everyone using it from day one.

could you please use this title format when you are doing season updates:

General discussion on tactics is allowed, although people should not refer to downloaded tactics. They are not banned, but I would expect the majority of people to avoid them.

Screenshots for anything are encouraged but please post links to your pictures, don't post them as images as it makes the pages slower to load. Posts included embedded images may be deleted without warning.

When you join the challenge, could you post a screenshot of your manager's profile on the 25th June like this.(I'll change it to a relevant club when I start my game)

Progress of your club should be documented using this thread, we want to hear the story of your club all the way through. Please keep us updated, even if you are doing really badly.

At the end of every season, could everyone post some kind of season review, including at least a screenshot of a league table and the clubs transfer page. If you give this a title in bold it makes it a bit easier to pick out.

I will try and keep a table of PL and CL wins and completions going, so if you win either competition for the first time please make it clear in your end of season review.

How to Post a Screenshot

While in FM, press the 'Prt Sc' button (usually next to F12 on your keyboard).

Open an image editing program such as Paint and paste the image

Save the file as a JPEG

Upload the image to an image hosting website such as Photobucket

Post the direct Url to the image here.

How to Add Links

At the top of the forum, go to 'quick links' then 'edit options'. At the bottom, select 'enhanced interface' and save the changes. This will give you access to the extra posting tools that make it easier to post links. Once you've done this, highlight the word you wish to turn into a link, then use the link button (looks like a little globe) to paste in the direct Url to your screenshot.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

In this challenge it's better you tick 'Add key staff' when starting the game, that way the generated players at level 9 and 10 are a mixture of ages. Otherwise nearly every level 10 player is a 16 year old. Would be worth changing the rules for that.

Super Bladesman had to create most of the clubs at that level (and some at level 9), so most won't have any players.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Aye, I could have enabled Level 11 as an inactive division - the vast majority of the Level 11 leagues and clubs are included in my file. It would've involved researching and adding HUNDREDS of stadia though - I had to draw the line somewhere!

It would be easy to add Level 11, and set up promotions and relegations - but without properly set stadia in properly set cities, the regionality of promotions and relegations would be lost. It wasn't worth the time tbh. Now that I've got so many helpers, though...

Really pleased to see this thread though - I'll be following this with great interest!

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Think I will get this underway, I've gone for the nearest club to me which is FC Clacton in the Eastern Counties Div 1. The board want promotion so I think I've chosen a good club . Here is my profile. Hoping to get off to a good start

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Not doing great with Clacton, no money to buy any players with and am over the wage budget so the board refuse to let anyone join. Beat my reserves 1-0 and the Glenn Hoddle Academy 2-0 and am the 6th favourite to win the league. The top 5 are all joint favourites

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Don't think anyone has asked the question yet, so I might as well ask away....

Currently dafuge's challenge goes down to Level 6, so the teams we choose are from level 7. Now this thread specifically goes down to Level 9, with teams being chose from level 10.

What happens if due to pc constraints or just wanting to be awkward / different, people want to start at league level 7 or 8? Can we discuss our progress in this thread or is this thread specifically for people starting right down at the bottom?

ps: Might be worth putting something like this in the OP incase several people start asking the same question... or it might just be me!

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Originally Posted by joetheref

Not doing great with Clacton, no money to buy any players with and am over the wage budget so the board refuse to let anyone join. Beat my reserves 1-0 and the Glenn Hoddle Academy 2-0 and am the 6th favourite to win the league. The top 5 are all joint favourites

I'm not sure whether to do this or dafuge's challenge when I get FM10, Zavvi .
Out of interest who are the favourites? Great Yarmouth are my local team (seen them play a few times, that's why I support Lowestoft ), but I'll go Great Yarmouth if I play this challenge.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

From now on you can start at Level 10 in the first season, however the club you choose must be predicted to finish in the bottom three of their league.

I'll edit the OP in a minute, now that the rules are more or less sorted I'd like to offer my luck to you all and hope as many of you as possible manage to complete this challenge, I will also be starting soon.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Don't think anyone has asked the question yet, so I might as well ask away....

Currently dafuge's challenge goes down to Level 6, so the teams we choose are from level 7. Now this thread specifically goes down to Level 9, with teams being chose from level 10.

What happens if due to pc constraints or just wanting to be awkward / different, people want to start at league level 7 or 8? Can we discuss our progress in this thread or is this thread specifically for people starting right down at the bottom?

ps: Might be worth putting something like this in the OP incase several people start asking the same question... or it might just be me!

I say stick it all in this thread, no point having multiple threads for people starting at different lower levels imo.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Don't think anyone has asked the question yet, so I might as well ask away....

Currently dafuge's challenge goes down to Level 6, so the teams we choose are from level 7. Now this thread specifically goes down to Level 9, with teams being chose from level 10.

What happens if due to pc constraints or just wanting to be awkward / different, people want to start at league level 7 or 8? Can we discuss our progress in this thread or is this thread specifically for people starting right down at the bottom?

ps: Might be worth putting something like this in the OP incase several people start asking the same question... or it might just be me!

Yes, I've been thinking about this. I think the best solution would be for everyone to clearly state in season updates which level they're starting at, I know I've said level 10 is the starting point but if anyone wants to start at Level 7, 8 or 9 they can post in here, this is the extended edition rather than the 'level 10 edition', meaning that anyone below tier 6 is welcome to play.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Right then, I've decided to take over Wigan RP of the North West Division One, with an estimated value of £12k, basic training facilities and minimal youth facilities this should be a tough challenge. Here's my profile page, wish me luck, I'll need it

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Originally Posted by roberto922

Yes, I've been thinking about this. I think the best solution would be for everyone to clearly state in season updates which level they're starting at, I know I've said level 10 is the starting point but if anyone wants to start at Level 7, 8 or 9 they can post in here, this is the extended edition rather than the 'level 10 edition', meaning that anyone below tier 6 is welcome to play.

I've got a lot of editing in the OP to sort out

Yeah I think it's best to allow anyone to start with any team from level 7 down to level 10.

Have you looked at my suggestion? Tick 'add key staff' when starting a game is better since the players will be a mixture of ages. Unticking it means most level 10 clubs have squads of 16 year olds only.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Originally Posted by berty1978

Just a quick question, have you added in the FA Vase?
Also I think you can't edit existing cup competitions, so you can't add extra rounds to FA Cup and Trophy.

The FA Vase is in there and the FA Cup was removed and readded so it could be edited. It has the correct number of rounds, just the names aren't accurate (3rd round is now 5th round, as there are only 4 qualifying rounds instead of 6).

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Wow, the quality is bad. I watched one pass bounce off the feet of another player, as he was looking the other way, constant one-on-one misses, and really bad 2 footed challanges resulting in red cards. Verdict is tho...I LOVE IT! I am kind of crazy that way.

Started with the Stone Dominos in Northwest Counties Div 1, only problem I see is a lack of transfers happening. Anyone else see this? Transfers are happening in the top leagues, just not in the drudges of level 10...

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Wigan Robin Park FC Update - Season 1 (2009/2010) - Starting Division: NW Counties Div. One (Level 10)
Good first season, we were predicted to finish 17th and after losing the first 3 games I felt like we were gonna be rooted to the bottom of the table come May, thankfully performances picked up and we finished 3rd, meaning we were promoted to the NW Counties Premier League

I was in and around the top spots for the entirety of the season after the initial bad start, mostly 7th/8th before a surge of form in the last 7/8 games pushed us into 3rd. The promotion fight was ridiculously close, with 3 games to go Barnsoldwick were 2nd, they finished 8th.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Originally Posted by Heath Matthias

Wow, the quality is bad. I watched one pass bounce off the feet of another player, as he was looking the other way, constant one-on-one misses, and really bad 2 footed challanges resulting in red cards. Verdict is tho...I LOVE IT! I am kind of crazy that way.

You should try coaching the Under 17s I coach in dublin. Most games are against teams like that, and the referees (let alone the players) are best described as 'aggricultural'. Horrible to play football against!

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

My journey starts here, the new manager of Gorleston.
I decided to go against my first choice Great Yarmouth and go with rivals Gorleston, purely because having been a couple of times they've got a lovely enclosed ground which wouldn't look too out of place in the BSP with a capacity of 5,000. I guess that gives me an advantage but hey, along with Yarmouth they are my most local club. Predicted to finish 14th out of 19 but I guess the sides are pretty equal at this level.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

I wanted to do this anyway and now that I've seen this, I dont mind doing updates. Have already started a game with Southwick (I'm using a false name because this isnt my "main" game for FM10 - I want to play a big ole' Arsenal game), and my profile is here.

Has anyone found a decent skin for FM10? Or backgrounds? Logo packs even? Im in the Sussex County Leagues (Div 2 for now), so thats what I'm looking for but hopefully we might find a mega multi pack to give backgrounds, logos, kits etc for all ten levels?? :P

I'm sure I wont manage this, incidentally. Will probably struggle to get out of the SCL2, but its fun to try.

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

A lot of people in the career game thread last season had speed issues after a number of seasons, it would be a shame to start this if it had performance issues before it could be completed. Although I'd be able to play as Truro

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Ive noticed what i think might be a small bug in the game. I just got asked to hold a back room staff meeting "as they have some information they wish to share with you" - but when I did, there was no advice available. Any idea why this might be?

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

I just encountered the 19th of September. Took about 5 minutes for the game to process all of the FA Vase games and I have it on fastest processing!

I am in the 3rd season of this, and it doesn't get any better...

Anyhow, how about this for a start to a season when we were tipped for mid-table obscurity? Paul Gordon, my Danny Roberts challenge hopeful, is only a month away from his move to Celtic... Justin Roberts is more than filling his shoes at the moment...

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

Re: FM10: English small club to big club challenge: extended edition

I can't see myself having too many issues in later years, I'm on 4.5* on medium DB, but yes, if you get less than 3* at game start up I'd recommend lowering the database size as you will likely encounter problems a few years in